IN OUR OPINION

Editorial: Sheriff asking for too much, too fast

Published: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 10:19 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 10:19 p.m.

Some say Sheriff Chris Blair's record $17 million budget-increase request is justified because Great-Recession spending rollbacks have left the agency ill-equipped, undermanned and underpaid. Others say Blair campaigned on the promise that he could make ends meet through economies and efficiencies within the department and is now breaking his word. Still others concede the new sheriff needs additional funding for the aforementioned needs but see his demands for so much, so soon as impractical and political tone-deafness.

Blair's request for a property-tax hike, a law-enforcement assessment increase and a half-percent sales tax all at once is a brazen money grab that could come to define, or maybe ill-define, the sheriff's tenure.

We do not question the need for new patrol cars or more deputies or better pay for Sheriff's Office employees.

But what Blair is seeking is too much, too fast, and it sends an unmitigated message that the sheriff believes his agency's needs surpass all other community needs, no matter how critical, including education and health care.

In case the sheriff hasn't been paying attention, the community is in the midst of relinquishing control of its award-winning public hospital because the people would not support a tax increase. Our schools are in the midst of cutting more than 500 positions, including the layoffs of 161 teachers, that everyone agrees will diminish the quality of public education in our community and comes on the heels of voters rejecting two small tax increases for the schools.

Blair describes the Sheriff's Office that he inherited from Ed Dean as in "dire financial need." So are our schools, which are being reduced to putting substitute teachers in hundreds of classrooms. So are the uninsured residents of our community — totalling some 80,000 and growing — who have no health care coverage and, as a result, no regular health care.

Blair says he is working on a five-year plan for overcoming the shortcomings of the Sheriff's Office. That is the right approach to fixing what ails the agency. Not wild-eyed demands — a proposed 26 percent budget increase in one year — that Blair has been told the community cannot, will not meet. Not threats of curtailed law enforcement services and increased danger on our streets, when, in fact, crime is down from previous years.

Blair ran as a veteran lawman and is finding out quickly that the sheriff's job is as much that of an administrator as a lawman — maybe more. It is also part of the job to be a community leader who helps uplift the lives of Marion Countians beyond fighting crime and locking up criminals — and that means better education, better health care, better economic prospects. Do those things, and the sheriff's job as a crime-fighter is easier.

The new sheriff is coming into office at the end of what is the worst economic time of our lifetimes. There is no doubt he needs additional funding to rebuild the agency's resources. But asking for a record budget increase and a triple tax hike all in his first year is too much, too fast.

<p>Some say Sheriff Chris Blair's record $17 million budget-increase request is justified because Great-Recession spending rollbacks have left the agency ill-equipped, undermanned and underpaid. Others say Blair campaigned on the promise that he could make ends meet through economies and efficiencies within the department and is now breaking his word. Still others concede the new sheriff needs additional funding for the aforementioned needs but see his demands for so much, so soon as impractical and political tone-deafness.</p><p>Blair's request for a property-tax hike, a law-enforcement assessment increase and a half-percent sales tax all at once is a brazen money grab that could come to define, or maybe ill-define, the sheriff's tenure.</p><p>We do not question the need for new patrol cars or more deputies or better pay for Sheriff's Office employees.</p><p>But what Blair is seeking is too much, too fast, and it sends an unmitigated message that the sheriff believes his agency's needs surpass all other community needs, no matter how critical, including education and health care.</p><p>In case the sheriff hasn't been paying attention, the community is in the midst of relinquishing control of its award-winning public hospital because the people would not support a tax increase. Our schools are in the midst of cutting more than 500 positions, including the layoffs of 161 teachers, that everyone agrees will diminish the quality of public education in our community and comes on the heels of voters rejecting two small tax increases for the schools.</p><p>Blair describes the Sheriff's Office that he inherited from Ed Dean as in "dire financial need." So are our schools, which are being reduced to putting substitute teachers in hundreds of classrooms. So are the uninsured residents of our community — totalling some 80,000 and growing — who have no health care coverage and, as a result, no regular health care.</p><p>Blair says he is working on a five-year plan for overcoming the shortcomings of the Sheriff's Office. That is the right approach to fixing what ails the agency. Not wild-eyed demands — a proposed 26 percent budget increase in one year — that Blair has been told the community cannot, will not meet. Not threats of curtailed law enforcement services and increased danger on our streets, when, in fact, crime is down from previous years.</p><p>Blair ran as a veteran lawman and is finding out quickly that the sheriff's job is as much that of an administrator as a lawman — maybe more. It is also part of the job to be a community leader who helps uplift the lives of Marion Countians beyond fighting crime and locking up criminals — and that means better education, better health care, better economic prospects. Do those things, and the sheriff's job as a crime-fighter is easier.</p><p>The new sheriff is coming into office at the end of what is the worst economic time of our lifetimes. There is no doubt he needs additional funding to rebuild the agency's resources. But asking for a record budget increase and a triple tax hike all in his first year is too much, too fast.</p>